Inside Barcelona boardroom as chiefs review Philippe Coutinho summer transfer amid Aston Villa form

Philippe Coutinho has made a bright start to life as an Aston Villa player following his shock loan move from Spain to Villa Park last month, and Barcelona chiefs are said to be delighted with his form.

The Brazil international has registered four goal contributions after his first three games in claret and blue, against Manchester United, Everton and Leeds United.

Villa boss Steven Gerrard described Coutinho's sensational performance against Leeds as 'beautiful' after he scored one goal and assisted another two in the first half of the 3-3 draw with Marcelo Bielsa's side.

It has been reported by Spanish outlet Sport that Barca feel Villa could make the deal permanent in the summer for a slightly lower fee than the one previously agreed between the two clubs.

Barca believe Villa are unlikely to want to pay £40m and could agree to decrease the price tag in order to get the Brazilian off their wage bill despite the clause in his loan deal.

But it’s not just Villa who are happy and feel they negotiated a good transfer, with Marca reporting that Barcelona executives are ‘congratulating themselves’ on business well done.

The former Liverpool star left Anfield for a record Premier League transfer fee of £142million in January 2018, but struggled to find his feet in Catalunya.

Coutinho was hampered with injures and a loss of form as a result during his time at Camp Nou. He was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich for the 2019/20 campaign , but upon his return to Barca last season, the same frustrations threatened to ruin his time in Spain.

With Barcelona now struggling to balance the books, offloading a big earner like Coutinho was a job well done for the club last month and due to his brilliant form at Villa, Barca chiefs